Your Internet Marketing Guru's

WRITING A HIGH-RRESPONSE E-SALESPAGE

Whether you're trying to sell your own product or endorsing an affiliate program, you need to create a “sales letter” that convinces your readers to get out their credit cards and order right now.
Fortunately, there's a simple formula you can apply when creating your sales letter. You may have already heard of it before, it's called, AIDA.

AIDA stands for:
A - Attention
I - Interest
D - Desire
A - Action

You need all four of those elements in your sales letter. Here's how to do it…

A - Attention

One of the most important parts of your sales letter is the headline – and that's because the headline's job is to get your prospect's attention.

If the headline doesn't do its job, then the rest of your sales letter might as well not even exist because it won't get read… and you won't get any sales.

Think of your headline as a “mini ad” for your sales letter. To that end, your headline should make a big promise, such as by telling the reader the biggest benefit she'll receive if she keeps reading.

You can also inject curiosity into your headline
(so that the prospect needs to keep reading to satisfy her curiosity).

The way to do that is to promise a big benefit, but don't tell the reader HOW she'll receive that big benefit.

For example, consider these two headlines, each promoting green tea:

“Drink One Cup of This Green Tea Each Day to Lose Weight!”

OR

“Here's How to Lose Weight Without Dieting, Without Pills, and Without Exercise!”

While both of these headlines could be effective, note that the second one arouses curiosity. It delivers the big promise – but doesn't tell the prospect how she'll get that benefit. So she needs to read on to find out.

I - Interest

Once you've “hooked” your prospect with a good headline, you need to start reeling her in – and to do that, you need to hold her interest.

Here is the “3S Strategy” to help you do exactly that:

START with a good opener. Because you made a big promise or even aroused curiosity in the headline, your opener needs to be the payoff. If your first few paragraphs don't “pay out,” the reader may stop reading.

But that doesn't mean you show all your cards at this point. On the contrary, you can arouse further curiosity. One way to do that is by telling a story in your opener, stopping right before the end of the story, and letting the reader know you'll tell them the ending “in just a bit.”
People hate unfinished stories, and will often keep reading just to find out what happens. (Of course, your story must be engaging, the reader should identify with the story, and it should be directly relevant to whatever you're selling.)

SHOW genuine empathy. Your prospects have been searching high and low for someone who really understands their problems… and cares about them. So far, all they've found are marketers who want to take their money and leave them with unsolved problems.

This is your chance to show you're different. If you can get inside your prospect's head, then you already know how much her problems trouble her – and all you have to do is show that you genuinely care. Show her that you identify with her and that she can identify with you.

Quick Tip: You can’t fake this. You need to genuinely care and empathize with your prospects. If you genuinely do, then don’t be afraid to show it.


STIR UP emotion. Finally, you need to make your reader feel something. If she feels something, then she'll keep her eyeballs glued to your letter.

Later on, you'll have her imagine how good it will feel to use your products. But for right now, you need to “agitate” her by reminding her of how her problem makes her feel. Ask her to imagine the pain, sadness, embarrassment or other negative feelings.

For example: ”I know what it’s like to keep a hand hovering by your mouth when meeting new people, simply because you’re embarrassed about your teeth…”

Bottom line: You need to hold her interest in continuing to read your letter… while also starting to spark her interest in the solution you're offering.


D - Desire

You have your prospect's interest – now it's time to start stoking her desire for your product. And to do that, you need to make your case that your firesale is the BEST solution to her problems.

Here's a simple four-step process to get your prospects drooling over their keyboards, desperately wanting your product (offer):

1) List the products’ benefits. Your products have a lot of features… but what your prospects are primarily concerned about is how these products will benefit them. To that end, you should create a bulleted list of product benefits that create excitement and even curiosity about your products.
Let me give you an example of a feature versus a benefit. Let's say you're promoting a compilation of resale rights products so the feature of your package is that it includes five never-before-seen resell rights ebooks. The benefit to the buyer is that she can make easy money with these products because the market isn't saturated.

2) Offer proof. Your prospects really want to believe you. They do. But they also think marketers are prone to exaggeration. And at the very least, they know you're biased.

That's why you need to offer proof of your claims. One of these best forms of proof is “social proof,” where neutral third parties share their testimonials.

Quick Tip: If you have a lot of testimonials, then post the strongest ones in prominent places on your sales page. Your strongest testimonials are those where people not just liked the ebook (e.g., “great book!”), but they could detail HOW the product helped them
(e.g., “I love ten pounds using the tips in Chapter 5!”).

You may also offer up any other sort evidence that proves your case, such as before and after pictures, videos, screenshots, etc.

3) Reverse risk. Your prospects are skeptical. They're worried that maybe the products aren't really what you make them out to be. But you can ease their minds by reversing (indeed, eliminating) the risk – and you do that by offer a strong (and long) guarantee policy.
Sometimes beginning marketers feel like a guarantee policy is just an open invitation for buyers to ask for refunds. It's not. Because the people who want refunds will get them one way or another anyway – either by attempting to bully you, or by going to their bank and doing a chargeback (which means you get hit by a big fee).
Indeed, you'll actually make MORE money when you offer a guarantee policy, because your conversion rate will increase!

4) Prod the imagination. Remember earlier when we talked about stirring your prospect's emotions about her problem? Now that you've made your case, you need to stir her emotions about the solution – and you do that by asking her to imagine how it will feel to receive your product's benefits.

Example: Here’s something you might say for a resale righrs package aimed at Internet marketers: “You don't have any competition -- just imagine how much money you’ll make with these brand new reseller products! Imagine your wife’s surprise when you get her that ring she’s been eyeing…”
You've made your case, listed the benefits, listed proof and evoked emotion. Now you got your prospect thinking she can't live another day without your package. It's time to close the deal…

A - Action

Imagine a gentleman who's about to ask a woman to marry him...
He takes her to a fancy restaurant and they sip champagne. Then, when the moment is just right, he drops to one knee and shows the woman the most breathtaking diamond she's ever seen. She already knows she'll say yes. But then suddenly the gentleman jumps up and leaves the room without uttering a single word.
Silly, right?

But that's a good analogy to what many marketers do on their sales pages. Namely, they whip their prospects into a buying frenzy… and then leave these prospects hanging, a bit unsure of what to do next.

You see, you can easily skyrocket your conversion rate by doing one simple thing: Putting out a strong call to action to your prospects.

DEFINED: “Call to Action”

A call to action is just what it sounds like. This is where you clearly and specifically tell your prospects what you want them to do next. In the case of your firesale, you might say something like:
"Take out your credit card right now and click the “buy” button to claim your package!”

Calling your prospect to action will improve your conversion rate. But you'll do even better if you give your prospects a reason to act right now.
That is, you need to create a strong sense or urgency. And one way to do that is by creating a fear of loss.

Let's say you're doing a „fire sale type of promotion.

1. There's urgency because the firesale only lasts for three days.

2. There's urgency because the price goes up either every day, by a few pennies after every sale, or by fractions of a penny every second.

Quick Tip: Those last two can be accomplished using a firesale script that shows the price rising steadily.)

All you have to do is remind your prospects of this fierce urgency when you call them to action.
Now you know the AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) formula. You can snap these elements into your typical sales letter format, which includes:

A headline and sub-headline. (Also benefit-driven sub-headlines throughout the copy to draw the skimmer’s eyes back into the copy.)

A salutation that speaks directly to the market (e.g., “Dear Internet marketer”).

A good opener that hooks the readers and evokes emotion.

A list of benefits (use a bulleted list to draw the eye to them).

- Testimonials.
- Proof.
- A guarantee.
- A strong call to action.

- A “P.S.” at the end that reiterates a main benefit and/or creates a sense of urgency.
Once you put your letter together, you should have a few pros review it for you to make sure it's as good as it can be. Then it's time to start recruiting partners to help you promote your product.